State police asked to take on LMPD investigations has checkered track record with transparency

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- In an attempt to improve public trust after the shooting death of Breonna Taylor, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer wants Kentucky State Police to investigate any future shootings involving LMPD officers.

Fischer made the announcement on June 23 among other police reform efforts in a video statement posted to his official twitter page.

“In the event of an officer-involved shooting when a person is killed or injured, we will contact the Kentucky State Police to do an independent investigation rather than LMPD investigating itself,” Fischer said.

But KSP’s track record with transparency is checkered itself.

“To use the term transparency when you are talking about state police is oxymoronic,” First Amendment attorney Jon Fleischaker said. “The state police has a history of doing things the way they want to do them, and at least their history in terms of open records and transparency is they don't care.”

Fleischaker helped write Kentucky's open record law and says state police routinely violate it. He's defeated the law enforcement agency in court several times on behalf of media organizations, including WDRB.

A WDRB investigation discovered state police broke open records laws more than any other Kentucky agency between 2013 and 2018. The review of opinions from the attorney general’s office revealed 33 open records act violations by KSP in five years.

State Police regularly sue to hide public documents after the agency is told to turn them over by the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office. KSP repeatedly lock records up in court battles for years and then pay thousands in fines with taxpayer money for the violations it racks up.

The delays, denials, and deception in the open record process represents a longstanding pattern of playing hardball with public information.

Sara Teague battled KSP for years to release evidence in the 1995 abduction of her 23-year old daughter Heather.

In December 2018, Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled KSP "acted in a conscious disregard" of Teague’s rights, willfully violating the state open records law and ordered the agency to pay about $25,000 in attorney fees, penalties and court costs.

In June 2019, Franklin Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate wrote in a ruling that he could not "fathom" how the law enforcement agency justified its decision not to release internal investigations of troopers to WDRB.

Wingate ruled that Kentucky State Police "willfully withheld" public records in this instance as well and ordered the agency to pay the station $11,500 of taxpayer money in attorneys' fees and penalties.

“The history of the state police was to oppose anything that had sensitivity to it with regards to open records, everything,” Fleischaker explained.

The stonewalling of information remains today as KSP investigates its own officer-involved shooting.

Dave Blevens still doesn't know which trooper or troopers fired the fatal shots that killed his son, Tyler Blevens on July 15. State police won't release the information.

“I don’t think it’s justified,” Dave Blevens said. “They shot him twice in the head and once in the chest.”

Members of a KSP special response team shot Tyler Blevins after a 7-hour standoff. Officials said he walked out of his Shepherdsville home with a gun.

Immediately after the Blevens shooting, KSP Post 4 Public Information Officer Scotty Sharp said the names off the officers involved would be released in the coming days after they’d been interviewed.

But Public Affairs Commander Josh Lawson later walked back that statement in an email to WDRB on July 27.

“That is still an ongoing investigation and we can’t release any more information until it is concluded,” Lawson wrote.

LMPD policy requires the names of officers involved in fatal shootings to be released within 24 hours. The police department also traditionally releases the employee file which includes commendations and discipline records for the officers involved in fatal shootings.

When questioned about how lacking transparency in state police practices and policies would impact future LMPD investigation the Mayor’s office issued the following statement:

“Our priority is ensuring the public has confidence in the investigation, and that’s why we are pursuing an agreement with the State Police to investigate officer-involved shootings where someone is injured or killed,” Fischer's Deputy Communications Director Jessica Wethington said. “Transparency is a priority of the administration and releasing body cam footage will be at the top of our list as we continue to work through the details with the state.”

Many other police agencies in the commonwealth rely on Kentucky State Police to investigate officer-involved shootings, but state police Commissioner Rodney Brewer said KSP only comes in for these investigations when it is requested.

“Although I’ve had no formal discussions with city officials concerning our agency working officer involved shootings involving Louisville Metro Police officers, we will assist them as much as possible within the current parameters of our staffing model,” Brewer said in an emailed statement to WDRB News.

The union representing LMPD officers presented a different proposal: That a task force made up of several law enforcement agencies investigate officer-involved shootings.

“That would include officers from KSP who could be the lead agency, LMPD, Lexington PD and possible other departments if manpower permits,” River City Fraternal Order of Police President Ryan Nichols said. “There could be a baseline of required training for all investigators on this unit. They would investigate all officer-involved shootings throughout the state, thus ensuring these investigations are conducted the same across the state.“

While Fleischaker is skeptical of LMPD investigating itself, he said sending Metro Police cases to KSP could turn a wait for answers from months into years. He warns that wait could have the exact opposite effect on public trust that Mayor Fischer claims to be seeking, even adding the community could see more protests like the demonstrations calling for justice for Breonna Taylor.

“Look what maybe could have been avoided if there was transparency from the beginning and an effort to let us know what was going on,” Fleischaker said.

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